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MANILA, Philippines– On August 17, IDC Asia Pacific named Project NOAH as the Top Smart City Initiative in Public Safety when it announced the winners of IDC’s Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA) 2016. SCAPA recognizes the most outstanding smart city projects in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) in 14 functional eServices. This year, the winners in the various categories came from all over Asia Pacific excluding Japan, with Singapore and New Zealand each claiming three categories each.

“The Smart City momentum is growing extensively in the Asia Pacific (AP) region as many nations see it as an organic, bottom-up and middle-out innovation growth that will spearhead the next cycle of eGovernment evolutions. While at least 90% of all AP local governments or smart cities’ growth leverage funds that are provided by central or federal functions, many of them are notably given the autonomy to create their own unique identity in city governance, strategic operations and provisioning of effective eServices,” says Gerald Wang, Head, Asia Pacific Government and Education.

“As such, there is notably a growing prevalence of citizen-directed initiatives and driving local industries, which ultimately contributes back to stimulating domestic social and economic sustainability. This year’s submissions and winners highlight the impacts of climate change and slowing global trade. This led to the stronger push for environmental sustainability and operational efficiency so as to bring about better living standards and future continuity of the various AP cities,” adds Sudev Bangah, Country Manager for IDC Philippines and Indonesia.

IDC Government Insights went through a rigorous six-phased benchmarking exercise to determine the Top Smart City projects for 2016. These included identifying and cataloging the key Smart City projects in Asia/Pacific by IDC Analysts across APeJ (25%), online voting to determine public opinion (50%), and the assessment of an International Advisory Council (25%).

"Project NOAH as the government’s flagship disaster management initiatives has empowered the Philippines with information such as; real-time weather data and high-resolution flood, landslide, and storm surge hazard maps through online platforms; mobile devices and social media. Project NOAH deserves the international recognition for the public safety initiative as it succeeds in transforming cities for the better through smart and sustainable technology, says Jubert Daniel Alberto, Country Head, IDC Philippines.

To get more insights about the best practices of the 14 Smart City Winners, the IDC Government Insights Smart City Development Index for 2015 - 2016 will be published later this year. For queries about this research, contact Gerald Wang gwang@idc.com. For media inquiries, contact Tessa Rago trago@idc.com or Alvin Afuang at aafuang@idc.com. – Rappler.com

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Welcome to Rappler, a social news network where stories inspire community engagement and digitally fuelled actions for social change. Rappler comes from the root words "rap" (to discuss) + "ripple" (to make waves).